Haven't I Killed You Before?
by krynny su
Summary: \\\**Part One in my 'Adventures of a Time Lord & A Slayer' series**/  An old foe returns from Buffy's past looking for revenge. Buffy/Tenth Doctor Pairing. Post season seven.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I, sadly, do not own Buffy or Doctor Who. They belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** This is from Buffy's point of view. Post season seven for Buffy, but not really coinciding with season eight at all. As for Doctor Who…Tenth Doctor and I'll say…post Rose leaving. But it's really going to lean more on the Buffyverse side of things, so a lot of the Doctor Who episodes after the point of Rose leaving aren't really going to matter, generally speaking. =) I really enjoy reviews! hinty hint hint! =) Thank you! 

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

I had been sitting on this particular tombstone for over an hour. The cemetery I was in was rather large I thought, well, for being in the middle of New York City anyway.

The gang and I had all eventually parted ways after everything with The First. They had stayed with Angel, in Los Angeles, for a few days, just to get their bearings straight and then headed off in their different paths. Faith, Robin and Andrew went off to Rome with the potentials.

Giles, Willow and Kennedy went off to London to get a new version of the Council up and running.

Xander decided to head off for New York. Dawn begged and pleaded me to allow her to go with him and in the end, I let her.

I promised that I would meet up with them in good ol' NYC. I just decided that I wanted to take the scenic route getting there.

Instead of staying in LA with Angel after everyone had gone their separate ways, I called up an old friend.

I had met the Doctor a long time ago, well, it seems like a long time now anyway.

He and his blonde cohort, Rose, had landed in Sunnydale my senior year of high school.

It was right after Angel had come tumbling back from whatever Hell dimension he had been in.

When he was tossed out of that dimension, it seems that he ripped quite a big hole through the dimensional walls causing some minor bleeding. Dimensional bleeding that is. I clarify that now only because when the Doctor first told me that, I thought he meant actual bloody bleeding. What? I had a lot on my plate.

Anyway, after that, the Doctor and I became good friends. He would pop in ever so occasionally and we'd go for a little jaunt around the universe in his TARDIS.

Despite his ever smug attitude and cockiness, Mom liked him. The first time Riley met him...wellllll...let's just say I had to do some undercover work in the Initiative to get him back.

He came as soon as he had heard about Mom dying. He stayed for about a week or so then.

I was also told that he came after I died. Willow said that he stayed for almost a month then.

When Willow resurrected me, she caused some major rifts throughout the universe. Of course the TARDIS would send him back to Sunnydale then.

I remember him having mixed reactions. Happy I was alive, horrendously livid at Willow for messing with the universe like that.

He's not a big fan of magic.

He stayed for nearly three months then. It was a mixture of his leaving and Giles that drove me to Spike and all that madness. I think that he knows that and it drives him insane that he hurt me so. He'll never admit it because that's not who he is, but I do see flashes of it in is eyes occasionally.

The last time he came was when I called him after the First. I joined him on the TARDIS and a month into our journeys through time and around the galaxies, we were declaring ourselves to one another.

That was two years ago.

* * *

><p>The loud, familiar whirring noise jostled me out of my thoughts and made me smile wide. I spun around on my makeshift seat to see the very familiar blue, wooden police box materializing. The Doctor stepped out, cautiously. I smiled wider, knowing that look on his face very well.<p>

"Get a little lost coming home, Doctor?" I called out.

He turned around at the sound of my voice, smiled greatly, and walked over to me.

"I wouldn't call it 'lost' so much as… going a bit off course." he said, in his smug way.

"Which is indeed another way of saying 'lost'." I smiled.

"So, what're you doing around here, then?" he said, surveying the cemetery and changing the subject.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Oh, you know, just thought that I would come out and sit alone in a dark, dank cemetery, in the middle of a freezing New York night. I mean, never mind the idea of going out for a night on the town with my sister and Xander. This, I felt, would be much more fun."

"Hmm, you could use a new definition of fun. Which, may I add, I am the absolute best person for that job, you know, on account of the genius that I am." he rambled.

"You are indeed the brains. However, my definition of fun right now is leaning more towards smoochies."

"I may have to lend my genius title over to you. Best idea I've heard all day." he smiled.

He leaned down while I reached up, latching my arms around his neck, to meet him.

We broke apart after a few minutes, both needing air. After catching my breath, I started to go in for more smooching, when I heard the also familiar sound of a casket cracking open, under the earth.

I sighed, letting my arms fall away from his neck.

"Time for work?" he smiled.

I nodded and turned around, facing the fresh grave I was supposed to be waiting for. We stood for nearly another five minutes before the new vamp broke out of the ground.

Another five minutes that could've been spent on smooching, might I add.

"Finally! It's about time. Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting? I do have other things to do tonight, you know."

The vamp turned around and stared at me in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you." I reinforced, staring him down.

He looked even more confused and took a few steps closer.

"I'm sorry, but am I supposed to know you?" said the vamp in question.

At this the Doctor and I both shared a look of 'you have got to be kidding me' with each other before turning back to the vamp.

"Are you serious? You have no idea who I am?"

He shook his head 'no.'

"Wow. It's been awhile since that's happened. I might almost regret this." I said.

"Regret?" the vamp asked.

"You do realize that you are a vampire right?" I said.

"Oh, yeah, I know that." the vamp responded. "But who are you?"

"Ah! I'm the Doctor!" my oh so loving boyfriend responded. "And this is—"

"I'm the Slayer."

"Oh, the Slayer. Right. What's a Slayer again?" the vamp asked.

"Where's Giles when I need him? He loves this part. The Slayer is the 'Chosen One'. The one girl in all the world that's chosen to squash down all the evil, namely vampires." I explained.

"Oh—"

"I really don't have time for this. I have four other newbies supposedly rising, not to mention a general sweep to get done." I said, cutting him off.

I tossed the stake, hitting him directly in the heart. He dusted instantaneously. I retrieved my stake and walked back towards the Doctor.

"You know—"

"Yes, I had to kill him. Just because he was clueless, doesn't mean that he wouldn't have tried to feed."

"Okay, okay. Where to next?" he asked, returning to his chipper self. He really hated the whole violence part of my job, where as I relished in it. Usually.

"I think my next target is in the next section. Ooh, I just went all Agent Finn for a second."

"Want some company?" he smiled, taking my hand.

I nodded enthusiastically.

"You do realize that you've been gone for like, two days, right?" I said after a few minutes.

"Two days? I was aiming for two hours. Something must've gotten mixed up." He replied, in thought.

I giggled. "It's okay. I just missed you, that's all."

He leaned down and kissed me. "I missed you as well."

I smiled brightly but my smile faded once we reached the next rising I was supposed to be stopping. The grave was empty.

"Looks like your target has risen already."

I huffed. "Great. One more running loose on the streets of an already extremely populated city."

We walked to the next plot and it was the same story, as was the plot after that.

"Really?" I exclaimed.

The Doctor seemed to be in thought. I noticed quickly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Five vampires, rising simultaneously, in five separate sections of the cemetery…"

"And…" I urged his thoughts on.

He pulled his specs out of his pocket. It's a typical sign of his brilliance at work.

"The first, the one you staked, was back this way, to the north of the cemetery. The next one was this way, to the east. The last spot we came from was at the south eastern point of the cemetery and right at the moment, we're standing at the south western point." He rambled.

"Sooo…."

"So, I'm saying that I can almost guarantee that by the time you reach the next grave, it'll be in the western section of the cemetery. And it will also be empty."

"Is it a surprise that I'm lost?"

He rolled his eyes. "Buffy, darling, the locations of all of these newly risen vampires make a pentagram."

"Well…maybe it's just some kid Wiccans out having a good time?" I suggested. I didn't really want to have to deal with a Big Bad right now.

"Maybe…"

"But…"

"You and I both know that's not how it ever works."

I laughed. "That's the truth."

He smiled wide. "I know. I'm brilliant."

We checked out the last spot and, sure enough, just like the Doctor said, the grave was empty.

We walked silently back to the TARDIS.

"Want to catch a lift back with me?"

"When you say 'back'…"

"I mean back to our apartment." he smiled.

"Then I would love to." I smiled back. 

* * *

><p>I unlocked the door to our apartment to find it pitch black.<p>

"Hello? Dawn? Xander? You guys home?" I yelled.

The Doctor flipped on the lights behind me.

**"SURPRISE!"**

Not expecting the loud yells, I fell backwards. The Doctor made a wonderful catch.

Standing in front of me, besides Dawn and Xander, who were the normal people I'd expect to find, were Giles, Willow, Faith and one of my personal faves, Captain Jack Harkness.

I recovered from my initial shock and stood straight, hugging everyone in turn.

"What are you guys all doing here?" I asked.

"Uh, Buff, you do know what day it is…right?" Xander asked.

I thought for a moment and came up with nothing.

I turned back to the Doctor. "Did we have something planned for today?"

"Oh good Lord, Buffy, it's your birthday." Giles said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them.

I smacked myself on the forehead.

A realization hit me. I turned towards the Doctor.

"This is where you went, isn't it? To get all these guys in London and Rome?"

He smiled wide. "That depends, are you going to hit me?"

* * *

><p>A few hours later and the party was in full swing. The Doctor and Willow were immediately drawn into discussing…well, I'm not sure what they were discussing. It was all science-y.<p>

I was standing next to the fireplace, sipping out of my cup when Jack came up to me.

"It's been a long time, Summers." he smiled.

"Hmm…last Halloween? Salem Witch Trials? Where I was almost burned at the stake? For saving your immortal ass?"

"Almost. Almost burned. You were saved."

I raised my eyebrow. "No thanks to you."

"She makes a wonderful point, Jack." The Doctor said, walking up behind him. "You know how long I had to talk so Buffy could get herself untangled from that stake?

"I….had other things to attend to." he coughed.

I rolled my eyes. "You must mean that redhead in the tavern."

The Doctor laughed. "I think she's got you bested."

Jack blushed a little. "What? She was gorgeous!"

It was late and I was getting tired, not to mention how crowded our small-ish three bedroom apartment had gotten with the arrival of four extra people.

"I think I'm going to go to bed. We should probably sleep in the TARDIS tonight…I don't think there's any room for us in here." I said to the Doctor.

He smiled, taking the hint. "No, I don't think there is."

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning to kisses running down my naked side.<p>

I turned on my other side and faced the culprit.

"Good morning, love." he said, in between kisses.

I smiled. "Morning."

I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled me close up to him. I wrapped my legs around his waist. He deepened his kiss.

I broke it off after a few minutes for, you know, air purposes.

"Nothing important to do today, right?" I asked.

"Well, unless you want to go on a grand adventure through time and space…then no." he smiled.

I laughed. "The only adventure I really planned on having, well, we can do that from right here."

He smiled wide. "You're earning that genius title more and more every day."

* * *

><p>We eventually did get out of bed later in the afternoon.<p>

"Well, where have you two lovely little lovebirds been all day? Huh?" Xander asked, as the Doctor and I walked into the apartment.

"None of your business, Xander Harris." I said, mockingly.

"Ooooh. Mee-owww. And I mean that in a sexy way." Xander responded, raising his eyebrows in a Xander-only kind of way.

"Yes, while this is completely fascinating conversation, perhaps it could be saved for…well, never." Giles said, once again cleaning his glasses.

"Oh Giles. Someday we'll get you out of that stuffy land of tweed-ness." I said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Have you been training?" Giles asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, here and there. We've got some really great roof space, it's where we hide the TARDIS, so when he's up there tinkering, I'll go up and train with Xander."

"I've got the five cracked ribs to prove it." Xander remarked.

"Oh, stop. It wasn't _that_ bad. And I apologized." I retorted.

"Do I want to ask what happened?" Jack asked.

"It sounds like B roughed him up a bit." Faith said, grinning.

"I'd like to think of it as…a merciful beating." Xander responded.

"I offered to take you to the hospital. You refused. You just need to learn to duck better."

"See Xander? It's your fault for not knowing how to duck." Jack grinned.

"Have you had anything interesting happen on patrol? Anything that would possibly constitute me staying behind to help?" Willow asked brightly.

I smiled. "How's forever work for you?"

"Yeah, Buff's right, Will. It's not really the same without you here. I say you move back to the good ol' U-S of A." Xander agreed.

"You can have mine and the Doctor's old bedroom. We hardly use it. We usually sleep in the TARDIS anyway."

I was really persistent on Willow moving back in. I missed her. We all did. Since her breakup with Kennedy last year, Giles had said that she'd been so…not Willow.

She smiled. "You've got yourself another roommate."

"Yay! Dawnie's going to be so excited." I squealed.

"Are you going to tell them about the patrol last night?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, right, work time." I sighed.

"What happened?" Giles asked, intrigued now.

"Oh not much. Just some random new vamps that happened to be patterned in a pentagram." I said, nonchalantly.

"Weird." Faith said.

"Yeah, I'm not really concerned so much about the pentagram factor…well, not yet anyway. I'm mostly concerned about the whole four new vamps on the run-thing." I said.

"Buffy, perhaps you and Faith should go out on patrol tonight. The rest of us can stay here and research." Giles said.

"Look at that! Giles is here for one day and we're already swimming in the land of books." Xander said.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, I was giving Faith the grand tour of all the spooky vamp hideouts that NYC had to offer.<p>

Unfortunately…we weren't having any luck.

"So, how's Robin? Andrew? The potentials?" I asked.

"Robin's good. Loving the whole in command thing. Andrew is the same dork as always. The potentials….same pain in the ass teenage girls as usual."

I laughed. "I'd like to say I envy you…no, no I don't."

Faith smiled. "You do seem to have a pretty nice set up here, B. I gotta admit it."

"Yeah, I like it. Dawn's loving going to school here. Xander's found a nice and steady little job…paying the rent and stuff."

"And the Doctor? You two seem to be pretty…heavy." she commented.

I blushed a little and smiled. "Yeah. We are. He's…well, he's amazing. In every sense of the word."

"Well yeah. A Time Lord. You know you do land some pretty stellar men, B."

I laughed. "Not just a Time Lord. _The _Time Lord. As in, the only one. Oh, also, alien."

Faith was about to comment when we heard a scream coming out of an alley.

We ran as fast as we could. Sure enough, there were two vamps wrestling with a young couple.

Faith and I bounded into the scene.

"Hey, I think maybe you might want to try us instead of them." I shouted.

"Yeah, we'll give a better fight than them." Faith interjected.

I rushed over and grabbed one of the vamps, causing him to drop the girl he had in his hands. I looked over and Faith had the same thing going on with the other vamp. The couple didn't need us to tell them to run.

The vamp pushed me back and punched me hard in the jaw. I ducked the second punch and swept his legs out from under him. I grabbed my stake and went down to stake him, but he flipped me over the top of him. I landed hard against the brick wall and landed even harder on the pavement.

I was having trouble regaining myself from the fall.

"Yo, B! Can I get a little help here?"

I looked up and Faith was cornered by the two vamps.

"Since you lost us our offerings to our Master, you shall be the new ones." one of the vamps spit out.

I managed to pull myself up off of the pavement and grab mine and Faith's stakes from where they had fallen.

"You know, I don't really think they'd like our taste very much." I said, as I staked both vamps from behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"You okay, B?" Faith asked, semi-concerned about my lack of mobility.

"Just open the door so I can collapse peacefully."

Faith did as I asked and I stumbled into the apartment and collapsed down onto the couch.

Before I could even say a word, I had four people surrounding me, all asking the same questions, four different ways.

The exceptions being Dawn, who was at her night classes, and Jack, who simply said "I should've gone with. Looks like I missed some fun."

"I'm fine." I replied to everyone else. "One of the vamps just got a little rough, that's all."

"Though, on the opposite side of that, I think they were two of the vamps that B was talking about last night. They were all strong and everything, like new baby vamps usually are." Faith interjected.

"The more important part that Faith is leaving out is something one of the vamps said. Mentioned something about offerings for his Master."

I watched as four different faces changed four different colors.

"Okay," I said, sitting up gingerly. I turned towards the Doctor. "Number one-you can relax. I don't think it's the same one as you're thinking of."

"How can you be so sure? You haven't seen him…it was a very, very long time ago that I dealt with him."

"Gut feeling. We talked about this, remember? Slayer's instinct always wins out in the end." I turned towards the gang. "Number two-I don't think it was, you know, The Master they were referring to. Seeing as how he's giant piles of dust and everything."

"Unless…" Giles started.

"Unless what?" Willow, Xander, Faith and Jack all asked in unison.

I sighed. "I really wish that you guys wouldn't ask that. He's going to come out with something horrible that I'll have to defeat. I know it."

"Unless he's bled through somehow from an alternate dimension. Doctor, have you felt any dimensional rifts or pulls lately?" Giles asked, ignoring my comment.

The Doctor shook himself out of any thoughts that he had seemed to be lost in. "Oh, um, no. None that I or the TARDIS have felt, no. She'd be the first to know."

"So I guess that leaves it to be some new Big Bad in town?" Faith asked.

"I guess so." I said.

"Well, how do you go about finding it?" Jack asked.

I stood up, carefully, as my bones were still aching. "I guess it's time to hit up some of the demon bars."

"Buffy, no. You've been hurt. You shouldn't be out patrolling anymore tonight." the Doctor argued.

"Welllll….if you think I need a protector, you're more than welcome to come along." I said, smiling.

He grinned his silly, maniacal grin. "Brillant! I do love to watch you work."

I turned to Jack. "Want to tag a long? I can't see you being cooped up here with the books for too much longer."

"Oh dear God yes." he said, standing to join us.

"I think I'll sit this one out, B. I'm thinking it's a veggin' kind of night for me." Faith said.

I nodded. "Okay. We'll be back." 

* * *

><p>My first stop was to my good ol' reliable snitch, Billy. He owned a small, well hidden demon bad, just a few blocks over. The first time I met him, I was literally dumbfounded by how much he resembled bar-keep Willy.<p>

Then he told me that Willy was his brother and everything slid into place. Well, except for the reason why their mother named them both names that were short for 'William'.

We entered the bar to find it fairly packed. Some demons I could identify, some I couldn't. And a whole bunch of vamps.

"Well, well! If it isn't the Slayer! And friends." Billy said.

I walked over to the bar and sat down. The Doctor and Jack stood quietly behind me.

"How's it going, Billy?" I asked, cheerfully.

"Oh you know me. Always staying out of trouble." he winked.

"Listen, I need some info." I whispered.

He moved in closer. "Is it payin'?"

"It might."

"What constitutes the cash?" he asked.

"How useful your information is." I replied.

He nodded. "Fair enough. What do ya need to know?"

"Have you heard anything on any new Big Bads coming into town? Someone that would use vamps for servants? Maybe mix in with magics?"

He thought for a moment. "No…no can't say that I have."

"Billy…" I warned.

"Tellin' ya the God's honest truth. Ya think I want a pissed off Slayer in my bar?"

I nodded. "Okay, thanks Billy." I slipped him a twenty for his troubles.

The rest of the demon bars we hit had similar responses. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"This somehow resembles square one." I said as we walked out of the last haunt.

The Doctor grabbed my hand and intertwined it with his.

"Well, square one …that's usually the first stop, isn't it?" he smiled. "You can't have squares eight, nine and ten without square one."

I squeezed his hand. "That is an excellent and very valid fact."

He beamed. "I'm outstanding, remember?"

"How could anyone forget when you say it so often?" Jack smiled.

"Now boys, do I have to separate you?" I teased.

Suddenly, my Slayer senses kicked up on high drive. I stretched them out and quickly found a direction.

"This way." I said, taking the lead, my hand still intertwined with the Doctor's.

I was set on a dead run, but the Doctor and Jack kept up easily.

I learned a very long time ago just how great my lover was at running.

The vamp vibes I was getting seemed to be coming from an alley, judging by our new surroundings, but it was completely empty.

"Okay…I was definitely being pulled here." I stated.

"So why is the alley deserted?" Jack asked.

"I don't know." I responded.

"Maybe…whomever we were following…went down under." the Doctor said, pointing to a manhole.

He pulled his sonic doo-hickey out of his coat pocket and used it to unseal the manhole cover.

Jack pulled it off and tossed it aside.

"Ladies first?" he gestured.

I sighed and jumped down. The Doctor followed and Jack was last.

"Ugh. Why do they always pick the sewers? Okay, I mean, I know why, but is it really that much to ask for a week where I'm not traipsing through…whatever this is that I'm currently traipsing through. I swear if Merrick had mentioned anything about sewers, I would've not accepted at all." I rambled.

"Well, my dear, I'm not entirely sure that you had a choice whether sewers were mentioned or not." the Doctor answered.

"Merrick?" Jack asked.

"First watcher." the Doctor and I answered in unison.

I once again stretched out my Slayer senses, as far as I could. I walked a little ahead of the Doctor and Jack. They were using the sonic doo-hickey as a mini flashlight and I just didn't need that.

"Buffy, do you have any idea where we're going?" Jack asked after several minutes.

I shushed him and stopped walking.

"My theory is that she's moved onto the tracker version of herself. The hunter, if you will." the Doctor answered Jack.

I shushed him, too.

"Oops…sorry." he whispered.

To my right was another series of tunnels but to my left, there was a boarded up section of wall. It had yellow tape all across it. I figured it had been a part of the old city at one point.

I walked over to it and put my ear to the boards.

Silence.

I turned and started to walk away; The Doctor and Jack followed.

We walked only a few feet when I motioned for them to stop.

I ran back to the boarded up wall, punched my fist through and pulled out a vamp.

The Doctor and Jack came running.

The vamp recovered from his shock and jumped at me with a series of punches. I blocked them all. Unfortunately, while I was busy blocking his punches, he sent a hard kick into my already injured ribs. I stumbled backwards a bit from the pain, but regained my composure, quickly, blocking his next few punches.

I ducked down and swept his legs out from under him. As soon as he hit the ground, I grabbed him by the throat, picked him up and slammed him against the wall.

"I know you're the one that led us down here. So here's how this going to work. I ask, you answer. Understand?"

"Why should I answer anything? You're just going to stake me in the end."

"Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how good your information database is. Oh God. I really just said that, didn't I?"

The vamp seemed to be in thought.

"I'm waiting…" I said after a long few minutes.

"Master is in town…siring new recruits."

"Who is 'Master'? Recruits? Like for an army?"

The Doctor answered instead of the vamp. "Not an army…no. There's not been enough people taken. It's something else…"

"Correct. Not an army. Just enough for you to notice."

"Me?" I questioned.

"You are the Slayer."

"A Slayer. Not the Slayer. Not anymore."

"Yes, but you are the one he has sent for. The one he has been searching for."

For some reason, those words rang some fierce déjà vu inside of me.

"Why? What does he want from me?"

"Everything. You spurned him. He offered you the world and you killed him. It's taken him these last five years to recover. And now he wants to make you pay." The vamp laughed.

"Who is he?" the Doctor sneered, coming closer.

"I will tell you. But it will be too late. Tonight, he's sent for her. Your ultimate price. Tonight, he gains the asset that will destroy you, Slayer."

"I'm getting _really_ sick of the cryptic. Spill it, bumpy. Who is he? What asset?"

"The Master. The Count. Dracula."

I don't know if my jaw physically or mentally dropped. Everything suddenly sank in.

The Doctor and I exchanged the same glance.

"Dawn." I whispered.

The vamp started to laugh. I quickly dusted him and started to run back the way we came, with the Doctor and Jack close behind me.

I quickly scaled the ladder, making it up in three easy steps.

Dawn's university wasn't far, but it felt like it was light years away as we ran.

I checked the time on my watch. 9:20pm

Dawn's last class would just be letting out.

We raced across campus, searching frantically.

"There! I see her! Over there!" Jack yelled.

Sure enough, Dawn was absentmindedly walking down the path, thumbing through her bag.

There was at least ten vamps starting to swirl around her, attempting to herd her in.

I ran as fast as I could.

I pulled my stake out and managed to take two vamps by surprise. Jack jumped in the fray, taking out another two vamps as well. The Doctor even staked himself a vamp.

I was in the midst of fighting off three vamps when I heard Dawn's scream.

I turned to see her being held, by the neck, by a large vamp.

"Slayer, put down your stake or else I'll squeeze the life out of her right now."

The Doctor and I immediately dropped our stakes. I nodded to Jack, who dropped his as well.

"Let her go." the Doctor ordered.

"Dracula wants me. So go on, take me instead. I'm standing here right now." I begged.

"Buffy! No!" Dawn yelled.

"Quiet girl!" The vamp squeezed her tighter.

"I'm offering him the trade. Me for her." I repeated.

"I do not just want you. I want to watch you suffer first. Suffer until no end. Suffer until you think you might die. Then you will hand yourself over to me."

The Count himself walked-well, glided-out from behind the large vamp.

The Doctor pulled out his specs and stepped up closer to examine Dracula.

"Wow…I mean really…just wow. This is absolutely brilliant. Count Dracula. Vlad the Impaler. In the flesh. I mean…just brilliant."

The Doctor glanced at me. "Oh, right. Sorry. Just not every day you meet a legend."

"Get away from me, alien. You do not interest me."

"Yeah, well, you see, here's the thing. I wish I could back away, however, you've chosen to get yourself involved with a woman that I love. And I just don't think it's really going to work out the way you plan."

Dracula turned to face the Doctor. I slowly motioned to Dawn to stay as still as possible. Jack quietly edged his way around, moving towards Dawn.

"I wonder how you will react when she hands herself over to me…over her own free will? How will you react when I drain the life out of her?"

"The last time I checked, mind control didn't count for free will." the Doctor countered.

I motioned for Jack to keep moving towards Dawn. Instead, he stepped on a twig.

Dracula spun around.

"I would not try to be the hero, immortal one."

He walked (glided) over and grabbed Dawn from the large vamp, dismissing him.

I took a few steps forward.

"Stop Slayer. I'll snap her neck."

"Well, isn't that what you want? You're going to kill her anyway. Why drag it out?" I fumed.

He smiled that insanely evil smile that only he could.

"It's better for me to…drag it out, as you say. To let it sink into your head how much you failed your only living family blood."

With that, he and Dawn disappeared into the night.

I turned to Jack. "Go. Tell the others."

He nodded and ran off back to the apartment.

After he was out of sight, I sunk down to ground and burst into tears.

The Doctor was right there, holding me in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he said, gently.

I looked up at him. He reached his hands over and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Don't be. He's the one that's going to be sorry. He's going to wish that he never came back." I growled.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry about the delay. Life sadly intervened. But anyway, here we are. =)

In this chapter, there are references to Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm twisting it around major. In the book itself, Dracula is more monster than romance. Here, I'm staging the book as more like the 1992 movie, with Dracula in a more romanticized role, rather than a horrific monster of the night. I've also changed up the ending of that a bit, just to fit the needs of this particular chapter. Thank you to a lovely reader (Aoi Dragon) for pointing out my error Also, the Scoobies are looking through it as more of a book of true events than as just a mere novel. None of it belongs to meeeee. Okay, enough jibber-jabber. Onto the chapter!

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

It was nearing sunrise. As weird as it probably sounds, I can usually smell it. I blame the whole part where my Slayer-ness is actually based on the vamp's powers.

I was on the roof of my building, feet dangling over the edge, staring into the rapidly brightening sky.

I felt his presence long before he sat down.

"This…this here is why I love this planet so much. The sheer beauty of something as so simple as a sunrise…it boggles my mind. Which is a wonderful thing. A rare and wonderful thing."

I didn't answer. I just stared into the sky, waiting for answers to appear.

"Are you hungry?"

I shook my head.

"Buffy, you should eat something. To keep your energy up, at least."

"Have they found anything?" I asked, quietly ignoring his concern.

"Well, there's the usual. The stuff you already knew from last time-"

"So nothing new." I interrupted.

"No. But they are working hard. Double and triple checking everything from the history of Vlad the Impaler to Bram Stoker's infamous tell-all book."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

"The book is based on true events, isn't it?"

"Yes and no. Well, partially. I think. You know the supernatural really isn't and never has been my area of expertise."

"Dracula's real. Very real. So therefore at least some of it must be true."

"Uh, well, yes, I suppose you're right. Mostly the parts pertaining to Dracula himself would be real. Real, but not necessarily factual. Also, I imagine that the love story is probably made up. What're you getting at, sweetheart?"

"If it's real, we can go there." I said, motioning to the TARDIS.

"No. No no no no no no no no. We cannot. Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"A-We're not sure what parts of it are real or not. I don't know about you, but I don't really fancy getting stuck somewhere in a time vortex while we've got such important things going on because the TARDIS tried to go into a place that may or may not be real. Two-even if it were real, they would all be fixed points in time and they cannot be changed. Absolutely not. You know that."

"I'm not talking about that. I know the rules. I just want to observe. See what we're missing-type of thing. He was killed before. I know that. Someone…that Mina girl. In the book, she cut off his head."

He raised his eyebrow. "You read the book?"

"Well, no. I watched the movie about the book. But still. She cut off his head and it was enough for him to make him lay low for a hundred and some odd years. There has to be something to that. Something a little more permanent."

"I cannot believe I'm saying this. We don't need to time travel for that." He pulled his specs followed by a small book out of his pocket.

"Of course you'd have that in your weird huge alien-time lord pockets." I muttered.

I let him take the reading reins, so to say. He flipped through page after page, rereading paragraphs that I'm sure he'd already read a dozen times before.

After a few minutes, he yelled loudly, throwing the book down behind him.

"AHA! There it is! How could I be so bloody stupid? It's all right here, in beautiful black and white!"

"What? What is it?"

"You are seriously earning that genius title more and more everyday."

I threw out a mocking glare at him. "Doctor, I love you, but seriously, if you don't spit it out I may be forced to throw you down."

I really did love him an awful lot but when he starts to ramble…boy does he ramble. It usually ends like twenty minutes later and me not understanding a single word he's said. Well, besides 'the'.

"When Van Helsing takes the men to Lucy's tomb after she is turned, not only do they decapitate her, they drive the stake through her heart, effectively killing her. In the end of the book, at the part you mentioned before, with Mina, where she cuts off his head…"

"Yeah..?"

"She did appear to shove the sword through his chest, but what if she missed his heart?"

My face lit up and then sank immediately when a new thought popped into my head.

"It's a very valid theory, however, how on earth am I supposed to stake him and cut off his head when he just turns to dust with the first blow?"

"Hmm….yes, that does represent a problem."

The Doctor sank deep into thought.

"There has to be a way. This connection…it feels right. Like we're going the proper way. Ooh, that was a really tweed-like sentence." I muttered.

After another few contemplative minutes, the Doctor shouted again.

"OH! Of course! At the end, Dracula was no longer the young man he had shown to Mina nor was he the old man he had shown to Mr. Harker-"

"He was in true demon form. Dracula isn't just a regular run of the mill vamp…he's one of the Old Ones." I gasped loudly.

"Right!" The Doctor agreed with his usual large, silly grin. "Wait. What are the Old Ones?"

I scooted away from my dangerous perch on the ledge and stood up.

"C'mon. We have to tell the gang.

"Well, it certainly seems to fit." Giles said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them.

"What exactly are the 'Old Ones'?" Jack asked, looking towards me and the Doctor.

"Don't look at me. I, for once, have no idea." the Doctor replied.

Jack looked impressed, to say the least.

"The Old Ones are vampires in their rawest form. The ones I go after on a nightly basis are just human-demon hybrids. Half-breeds. The Old Ones were the first on the Earth. Thousands and thousands of years before humans. Their only way to populate and survive was to feed off of each other, making more and more of their kind. Until the humans came. Kind of like if you had a choice between a gourmet lobster dinner or chicken tenders, the humans being the gourmet lobster."

"Okay, so basically, these 'Old Ones' are one hundred percent demon bred vampires?" Jack asked again.

I nodded.

"The last time we faced something similar to the Old Ones was right before Sunnydale went all giant crater-y." Xander added.

"Right. The turkey vamps." I said.

"Turok-Han" Giles and Willow corrected.

"Ubervamps. Whatever. That's not the point." I said.

"Well, get to it quick, B. You're rambling worse than the Doctor does." Faith interjected.

The Doctor glared pointedly at Faith.

"The point is we may have found a way to kill Dracula. For good." I said.

"If we can figure out how to get him into his pure demon form, I think that Buffy can pull this off." the Doctor said.

"Buffy, Willow and I came up with another theory that I'm sorry to say seems likely." Giles said.

"What?" I asked.

"I think you best sit." Giles said, softly.

I bit down on my lip and nodded my head.

"Well, at least I know it's bad news." I said, grabbing my glass bottled of iced tea and sitting down on the arm of the sofa.

"I remembered from our first encounter with Dracula that you told me he had said something about searching for you throughout time…" Giles started.

"Please don't tell me you think he's a Time Lord." I said.

"He's not. I would've been able to sense it." the Doctor said.

"No, the Doctor is quite right. He's not a Time Lord. But he does somehow manage it. Through magic, I'm presuming." Giles said.

"How do you know?" the Doctor asked.

"It's all right here." Willow said, holding up an old, thick book.

"And that is?" I asked.

"It's a Roman book of prophecy." Giles said, cleaning his glasses once more.

"Okay, you're cleaning your glasses, Giles. That usually means something really really bad. What does it say?" I asked, slightly panicky.

Willow opened the book to the page she had bookmarked and started to read, quietly.

"On the twentieth day of the first month of the new year of MMV-that's this year, 2005, in Roman numerals-, the dark Prince will once again turn to his past to gather vengeance upon an old adversary. On the twenty-second day of the first month of the new year of MMV, the dark Prince will have his vengeance unless the Key and the energy therein is destroyed."

"Dawn. The Key, the energy. That's Dawn." the Doctor said, in a disbelieving tone.

I sat motionless in my seat with a blank stare on my face. I sat in that silence for a good five minutes before anybody tried to break me out of it.

"Oh God, she's going into catatonia again. Willow, get in that brain of hers and drag her out." Xander said, in a worried tone.

"She's not going into catatonia, Xand. Right, B?" Faith said.

"Buffy…" Giles started.

I snapped my head up to look at him.

"I believe we've had this conversation once before. This is the part where you tell me that I have to kill my little sister."

"Buffy, I-"

"Giles, she's not going to die." I fumed.

"You heard what the prophecy said, B." Faith said, quietly.

I squeezed the glass bottle in my hand and it shattered into a million tiny pieces.

"So we'll change it. Since when are these things right anyway?" I said, standing up, ignoring the broken glass.

"Buffy, you know how much I love Dawnie, how much we all love her, but you also know how these things work. They are always right, at least to a degree." Willow said.

I walked over to my weapons chest and pulled out the scythe. I stormed towards the door.

"Buffy, sweetheart, where are you going?" the Doctor asked, following me.

"I'm going to find him. I'm going to find him and cut him up into itty little bits." I snarled.

"You shouldn't go alone. You know how he travels." Xander said, standing up.

"I'll go." the Doctor replied.

I just nodded.

I started to step out the door but turned and walked back in.

"I swear to the Powers themselves, if she dies, I'm done. One hundred percent done. Faith…it'll be all you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

I stormed into Billy's bar, the Doctor behind me.

"Slayer, back so soon?" Billy's cheerful voice rang throughout the empty bar.

I walked up to the bar and flashed my scythe at him.

"Billy, do you remember what I said about lying to me?" I seethed.

He backed up several feet, as far as he could, behind the bar.

"Lyin'? I don't know what you're talking about. I swear!" he said, nervously.

"Billy, I like you, I do. However, I swear to God if you don't answer me, truthfully, I will use this scythe and I will chop you up into the smallest bits manageable. Understand?"

The Doctor grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

"Buffy, I know how upset you are—"

"Doctor, not now." I seethed, turning back.

He grabbed my elbow and spun me back around.

"Yes, now. I'm quite fond of you, in fact, I love you quite a bit, if you haven't noticed, and I don't fancy seeing you make a horrible decision that you have to live with for the rest of your life."

"I'm the Slayer. Or have you forgotten? That _is_ my life."

"Buffy, let me talk to him." he pleaded. "I'm trying to help you."

I swallowed my anger down and nodded my head. None of this was his fault.

"Okay."

He turned away from me and back to Billy.

"Billy Billy Billy. Now we need to have a talk, Billy-boy. Dracula. He's in town. We already know the why…we just need the where. And the how. And what he's planning. What can you tell us?" the Doctor said, leaning down on the bar, smirking.

"And don't say 'nothing'. With all the demons and vamps that come swarming in and out of this place…you have to have heard something." I warned.

"Story is that you've faced him before?" Billy asked, calming down some.

I nodded.

"Well, he's still the same. You're lookin' for him, you have to go lookin' in the higher end places. I'm not sure where he'd be set up…and I mean that…city's a big place, ya know. As for the how, rumor has it that he's big into the magic. That he can change time."

_"Change time?"_ the Doctor exclaimed. "Nobody can change time. Not even me. And I'm a Time Lord! It's exceedingly against the Laws of Time to even think about it, much less do it."

"Somethin' tells me that Drac isn't really a follow-the-laws type of guy." Billy said.

"Continue on." I urged.

"Well, the rumors were flyin' around that he had been lookin' for ya. I didn't tell ya when ya came in because, well, I don't fancy bein' demon food anytime soon. No offense Slayer, you're scary and intimidating and all, but they wouldn't hesitate on killin' me. You said you know the why, right?"

The Doctor and I nodded.

"Now remember, this is all just rumors flyin' around a demon bar, but some were sayin' that he had gone back in time, intendin' on changin' the order of things a bit."

"What things?" the Doctor asked.

Billy looked at me. "They say you've died."

"Three times. Four if you count the alternate reality, except no one ever really does." I said, flatly.

"Well, they were sayin' that he was tryin' to go back to when ya died. When the witch and her friends brought ya back."

"Why?" the Doctor asked.

"Simple." I said, setting the scythe down and folding my arms. "He was planning on stopping them, right? Making it so I never came back. I never come back from the grave and then the world goes poof with no real Slayer to look after it, seeing as how Faith was M.I.A. at the time."

Billy nodded. "Exactly. Except according to what I heard, he over shot his landing a bit, if ya will."

"What does that mean?" I asked, confused.

The Doctor's eyes lit up. "He went back too far."

"Right. They were sayin' that he miscalculated by a few months and instead of going to your grave, he went to the night ya died."

My eyes grew wide. "So he knows…"

"About how your sister is the Key? Yeah, he knows." Billy finished.

"Was the Key. _Was._ She's not anymore. The magic won't work anymore….not since I finished it by jumping through the portal for her." I argued.

"Listen, I ain't the smartest bartender on the block, but I've been around. I know what I'm sayin'. I know what I'm sayin' and I know what I've heard." Billy countered.

"Buffy, that energy is one of the strongest powers to have been created. It's the power to open doors and portals throughout any dimension, parallel world or universe that's ever existed. That kind of power doesn't go away. It just lies dormant. Dormant until something comes along and reactivates it." the Doctor said, quietly.

"Exactly." Billy agreed.

"So what is he planning then?" I asked, somberly.

"Story is that he's got some mojo vamps workin' for him."

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"That I don't know."

"Billy…." I warned sternly.

"Honest! I don't know. It's all secretive. So I'm thinkin' anyways. They stopped talkin' real quick once they figured I was listenin' in. I'm lucky to be alive."

Something suddenly clicked in my brain.

"Thanks for the info, Billy. And I'm sorry…about before." I said, apologetically.

"It's alright. I understand. Come back anytime." he said.

I smiled a small, grateful smile at him, grabbing the scythe off the counter with one hand and the Doctor's arm with the other, dragging him out of the bar.

"Blimey, what is that all about? I think you nearly pulled my arm out of it's socket. The only time I can grow new limbs is during the regeneration period, you know." he said, rubbing his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. "Not only do I think I know what he's doing, I know where to start looking."

His eyes brightened. "Really?"

"I think he's going to try to use Dawn to open some kind of portal. Or dimension. That's why he's using the mojo vamps."

"Well, yes I figured that out. I was more interested in the where to start looking part."

"Well, it was what Xander said earlier about knowing how he travels. And then what Billy just said about him being the same as always."

The Doctor's eyes lit up once more as the realization hit him. "Oh yes! You're good. You're _very_ good."

* * *

><p>I paced nervously across the floor of the apartment. Seconds later, Faith and Jack walked in.<p>

"Did you find anything?" I asked, running up to them.

"We have a winner. Several large cargo boxes were shipped to the docks just a week ago. They unloaded them, opened some of them up, for inspection, and found tons of dirt. I'm going with that being the sacred dirt." Faith said.

"Where?" I asked.

"Port Authority." Jack answered.

"No, I mean, were they being delivered anywhere? I don't see Dracula hanging out in the Port Authority for a week." I said.

"Right. Last time he had that giant castle that came out of nowhere." Willow chimed in.

"The cargo boxes had no addresses on them, other than Port Authority. While Captain Jack was schmoozing up the guard, I slipped in and took a peek." Faith interjected.

I glared at Jack.

"What? I figured it was better than her beating him to a useless, information-less pulp." Jack answered, grinning.

"That and he was pretty." Faith smiled.

"Stop! This isn't the time." I shouted, angrily. "Dracula has my sister. He has some way of reactivating the power of the Key, which is apparently supposed to be happening all too soon and we have NO idea where he is or could even be! Focus, please!"

Faith and Jack stood back and each mumbled 'sorry.'

The Doctor was leaning casually up against a door frame, glasses on, hand running through his hair, trying to figure it all out.

I noticed his look change rapidly, not sure if anyone else caught it. I ran up to him.

"What? What is it?"

"Oh how can I be so stupid? This many times in one day?"

"What?" I asked.

"Of course! Buffy, don't you see? The pentagram thing in the cemetery, there was a purpose to it after all!" he yelled excitedly.

"Okay. Am I the only one that's completely lost?" Xander quipped.

"I'm right there with you." Faith answered.

"Doctor…" Giles started.

"That's one of the finer cemeteries in our area, is it not?" the Doctor questioned.

"Also one of the biggest and oldest…" I said, trailing off.

"Leaving it to be the absolute perfect place to hide a giant, swanky Count motel." Xander finished.

I grabbed the scythe.

"Okay, I want everybody to weapon up. It'll be dark soon and I want to end this. Tonight."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** A couple of quotes from 'The Gift' in here. Once again, I do not own Buffy. Joss does. =)

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><p><strong><strong>

**Chapter Five**

By the time we had reached the cemetery, it was well into the middle of the night. The Doctor and I walked the path to where we had been two nights ago, when this whole crazy mess began.

"This is definitely right." Willow said. "I can feel the dark magic that's being used. It's almost like it's swimming around in me. As a rehabbed, relapsed, former evil and then rehabbed again witch…I have to say, I don't really care for it."

"Okay, so, if I was a creepy fifteenth century vampire…where I would I hide my giant creepy castle in a New York City cemetery?" Faith said.

"The center of the pentagram that the vampires formed would be, pardon the expression, dead ahead. I think that's probably the best bet to try looking first. In order to pull the magics he's trying to pull…he'd need to be right in the center of the power source." Willow added on.

I turned to Xander. "I know this is asking a lot of you but…"

"I know. I was his butt monkey before. I shall tune into the butt monkey-ness to see if I can get anything. A direction or something." he sighed. "Dawn better realize how much I love her." he added.

We stood still and silent for a moment before the wind started to move. It picked up heavily for a few moments before stopping suddenly.

A little purple light appeared out of thin air.

"I did it!" Xander exclaimed.

"Uh, Xander. That was me." Willow said, from behind him.

"Oh." Xander said, his face falling.

"I just tapped into a teeny tiny bit of the magic that was left in the air. I converted the dark energy to good. It should lead us straight to the source. I technically didn't do anything myself. I just used what was left over." Willow explained, immediately noticing the Doctor's scowl at her magic use.

We followed the little purple light almost all the way to the very back of the cemetery-at least a mile. But none the less, exactly where Willow had said-straight ahead.

There was a very large, stone house that had appeared to have been empty for a long time.

"This is definitely the power center." Willow said. "I can feel the magic and energy flowing inside of me."

"I would think that this would have been the care taker's home at one point." the Doctor said.

"Yeah, probably. Before it was swarming with magic brewing vampires, that is." Faith said. "What's the plan, B? Go flying in, kicking some vampire ass?"

I shook my head. "No. I have to make sure Dawn's okay first. I don't want to go rushing in and have something happen to her. I'm going to get closer and see if I can get a better look inside."

"Buffy, I don't think that's a wise idea." Giles said.

"Giles, we don't have time for this. I have to make sure she's okay." I said, anxiously. I turned and started to walk away, but the Doctor grabbed my hand.

"Buffy-" he started.

I yanked my hand out of his grip. I looked him in the eyes and I could tell that he knew there was no stopping me.

I turned back around and ran up to the house. Thanks to my strategic weaponry planning, I scaled up the chimney in no time. I had a quiver that I usually used for my crossbow arrows, strapped to my back, holding the scythe tightly in place. Under my favorite navy blue pea coat, I had several knives and daggers stashed in the interior lining. Mr. Pointy was tucked safely in my boot, while his friend, Mrs. Pointy, was tucked safely in the other.

There were two large skylights on the roof. However, the roof had seen better days. There were loose stones everywhere. I maneuvered myself as carefully as I could around the loose stones. I was only a few feet away from the first skylight when I tripped over a large, hidden stone. I fell quickly, crashing through the skylight and into the house. The last thing I heard was six people yelling my name as I fell. 

* * *

><p>I landed hard on the stone floor, somehow managing to not spear myself with the scythe and barrage of knives hidden inside my coat.<p>

I heard clapping and slowly sat up.

"What an entrance! I was indeed expecting you a little earlier…but now. Now works just fine."

Dracula smiled a fang-y vampire-y smile.

I tried to stand up as carefully as I could, but the fall had wounded me pretty good. I could feel blood starting to run down somewhere near my left side.

So much for the knives not hitting me.

"Buffy! Buffy! Buffy!"

My head shot up at the sound of my name being yelled hysterically.

Dawn was leaning against the stone wall. Her arms were chained up straight to the wall, as were her legs. She had tear stains and dried blood on her face.

I used the sight of her to give myself some strength.

I stood up, slowly, and grabbed the scythe from where it had clattered on the floor.

"Buffy!"

I looked over to see the Doctor and everybody running into the room.

"No…I think we will be alone for this." Dracula smiled.

He waved his hand and the heavy wooden door slammed shut in their faces.

"Buffy! Buffy! No no no no no NO!" I could hear the Doctor shouting desperately...angrily...as he was banging on the door.

"Okay, you wanted to be alone. Let's talk. What are you doing with my sister?" I said, leaning against the wall for support.

"Oh, of course. All work with you isn't it?"

"Answer me." I seethed.

The closer that Dracula got to me, the farther I inched myself down the wall.

"I believe that you got most of the info from your little bar snitch. Oh, yes, that's right. I set it up perfectly. I sent some of my…recruits into his pathetic little establishment. They talked about all my plans, well, almost all, knowing that he would be listening in. Knowing that you would come looking and he would tell you."

"That's not what I asked."

He sighed and looked at me for a moment.

"Very well. As we speak, there are five very powerful warlocks underneath us preparing to open a portal. A portal that will undoubtedly spread hell upon Earth for no less than twenty-five thousand years and no more than a hundred-thousand. A portal that will be opened with your sister's blood. A portal that has to be closed by your sister's death."

"I died closing that portal for her once and I'll do it again." I breathed furiously.

"Ah yes. I've not only seen that very sacrifice, I've planned for it. This ritual is a bit different than the one that was performed that fateful night. Toiling night and day just to get it right and finally, it is ready. This ritual can only be stopped by her energy. The energy that burns within her. Yes, it opens with her blood, but it closes with her energy. It closes with the death of the Key, and only with her death."

I stood motionless and open mouthed against the wall.

"You have a choice, Buffy Summers. Will you save your sister's life? Or will you let the entire world fall?"

I was frozen. I didn't know what to do. I could hear the gang emphatically trying to break down the door, with no success. The sonic screwdriver would be no use as the door was heavy, solid wood. The only other hope would be for Willow to be able to break down the magic holding it closed.

An idea suddenly popped into my head.

"How does this ritual work?" I asked. "I mean, aside from blood-letting my sister."

He seemed curious to my question but answered anyway. "The warlocks have to keep chanting while I spill her blood into the center of a pentagram. Which we are in."

"Yeah, I noticed that part. What do the vampires rising have to do with it?"

"Nothing at all. That was just an easy way for me to mark the center."

I inched closer to the door, but Dracula beat me to it.

"No, no. We will not have that. No letting your friends in." He said, as he hit me away from the door.

I fell back into a table. Dracula lurched after me. I reached up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back. I got up and ran to the door as fast as I could.

"Get downstairs! You have to get downstairs! Interrupt the chanting!" I yelled through the door.

Dracula grabbed my arms and threw me away from the door before I even had a chance to attempt at opening it.

"It is no good yelling. The door is enchanted. They cannot hear you." he smirked.

I pulled myself up off of the floor, a bit dazed. He had thrown me pretty hard plus I could sense that the blood loss was accumulating.

_"If only I could think straight…if the Doctor was in here…he'd be able to think of what to do."_ I thought.

"You don't look so well, Slayer. Not feeling up to the fight?" Dracula bemused.

I tried to stand up straight, but a sharp, coursing pain fled through my side, knocking me to the floor.

"Buffy! Get up! Please…get up!" Dawn cried from the wall.

Dracula rushed over to her. "Oh, young Miss Summers. I had almost forgotten you were here. I suppose it's time to start the ritual."

I managed to pull myself up right once more.

Dracula walked over to me and punched me back down to the ground. I laid there in horrible pain, the blood loss occurring quicker, now that I had fresh wounds. He straddled over the top of me, and ripped my coat off. He ripped the interior lining open and grabbed a small dagger, smirking at me as he got up and walked back over to Dawn.

I tried to pull myself back up. It took a few times, but I managed. I walked as fast as I could towards them, the blood now generously free flowing from my injured side and other wounds.

The door started to shake. I could tell it was Willow.

Dracula sliced the dagger through Dawn's right side. She let out a loud scream. The blood dripped down to the floor and little sparks started to rip through.

The door shook harder.

I stumbled and tripped. I tried to push myself up, but fell back down.

He sliced through her left side.

She let out another loud cry as the blood dripped down to the floor. The tiny sparks were growing more and more as the blood hit the floor.

My heart immediately sank. It was too late.

I pushed myself up, determined now. I grabbed the scythe from where it lay on the ground. I swung it violently at Dracula, who caught it before it hit his neck.

"You've killed me before, Slayer and look what has happened." he smirked, motioning to the chaos that was beginning to pick up.

"I'll kill you as many times as I have to." I raged.

"Very well. You could kill me here and now as you wish. Or you could spend your last moments alive with your…blood." he smirked, motioning to Dawn.

I raised the scythe and then dropped it back down to my side.

I ripped Dawn's chains out of the wall. She fell to the ground. I pulled her tight to me, kissed her on the forehead and ran my fingers through her hair.

"Buffy…" she cried into my shoulder.

"It'll be okay Dawn. It won't be long now. The portal is starting to open. We'll go together." I said, as calmly as I could while I held her close to me.

I felt Dawn take a deep breath. "Buffy…" she said pulling her head away from my shoulder.

I read her eyes very plainly.

"Dawn…no. I won't let you."

"Buffy…I can't let the whole world go. I _won't_ let the whole world go."

"Dawnie…" I whispered, as tears started to fall from my eyes.

"Buffy, do you remember what you said to me that night?"

I nodded. "Yes, I do. But Dawn, listen-"

"No, _you_ listen. I love you. I'll always love you. This is the work that _I_ have to do. It's my time now. I can feel it. You have more work to do in this world…and others. I know that. It's so weird. Suddenly…suddenly everything makes sense to me now. You have family on the other side of that door that needs to be taken care of. You have to be strong. The hardest thing in this world…is to live in it*, remember? It's my time now."

The portal was a full on swirling mass now. I could hear the growls and hisses of the beasts below rising up to take their place on the Earth.

The door finally burst open, with everyone attempting at rushing in. They stopped and backed up as soon as they saw the large portal in the middle of the floor.

Dawn pulled me in tight and kissed me on the forehead.

She stood up and walked over to the Doctor. She enveloped him in a tight hug. "You…you take care of her. Promise?"

He nodded his head, undoubtedly recognizing what was going on. "I promise." he whispered with a tear falling from his eye.

She turned towards the gang and waved. "I'll give everyone your love."

The reply was filled with shocked gasps and sobs.

She then walked over to the edge of the portal and turned back to me.

"I love you big sister. I'll give Mom your love. Remember…please just remember this…we'll be with you. Always. Whenever you need us…we'll be there. I promise."

With that, she turned and jumped into the portal.

There was a thunderous, sickening crack. The floor started to shake violently and the stones started to come tumbling down, through the broken skylight. Giant swirls of blue and white lights shot out of the floor and then the portal closed. However, the ground just shook more violently.

"This, I believe, is my time to leave."

I had completely forgotten about Dracula until he spoke back up from a darkened corner on the other side of the room. He smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The Doctor ran to me and carefully picked me up, running me out of the falling house, with everyone in tow.

As soon as we got outside, the house collapsed in on itself and the rumbling earth stopped.

I let out a piercing shriek of pain, both physical and emotional.

The sun was beginning to rise. I heard a dark, emanating laughter coming from the distance…yet it was still so close.

I crawled down from the Doctor's arms and turned towards the gang. "Go home. All of you. The Doctor and I will be a long." I said, quietly.

"B-" Faith started. I glared back.

"Go. Home." I snapped. "We'll be right behind you." I added, more sincerely. After a moment, they all nodded and turned towards the way home.

"I just have to do a little clean up." I said, answering the Doctor's unspoken question.

"Buffy…you've lost so much blood…" he responded, sorrowfully. He pointed down to his brown pinstriped suit which was now sporting a large spot of my blood, which was also coating his hands.

"Yeah, I guess I have." I said, shrugging my shoulders, as I walked towards the rubble. The Doctor followed.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"I'll be fine. The Slayer healing is starting. I can feel it."

I walked over to the rubble and noticed a silver glimmer. I picked up a large stone and tossed it to the side. I pulled the scythe out and walked straight back into the trees, with the Doctor in tow.

There were seven large crates propped up against a free-standing stone wall.

"These are the crates from Port Authority." the Doctor said, in realization.

I nodded. "His stupid sacred dirt. He didn't run off because the house was collapsing. He ran off because of the sunrise."

I lifted the scythe, ignoring the pain in my side. I chopped through the first six crates, destroying them completely, while the Doctor stood by, in the background. He understood that this was for me to do. It was what I had to do.

I stopped when I got to the seventh one. The sun had risen fully by now, shining beautiful rays down.

I lifted the scythe again, but before I could bring it down to chop into the crate, a disgusting white hand shot out and grabbed onto it. Dracula broke the rest of the wooden crate down, sending shreds of wood everywhere and….emerging in his true demon form. Much like I had hoped he would. He stepped out of his precious broken soil and walked forwards, still holding onto my scythe.

He walked out of the cover of the trees and a sun ray hit him squarely on the arm, causing his skin to sizzle and burn. He recoiled back into the shade instantly and I took the moment of confusion to kick him as hard as I could. He went flying back and the Doctor was there, waiting, with a piece of the broken crate in hand. He shoved the wood into Dracula's heart, twisting the wood as deep as it would go.

He didn't burst into dust as usual…again like I had hoped.

Instead, his eyes opened wide with shock.

I looked him dead center in the eyes. "How do you like my darkness now?*"

I lifted the scythe once more and sliced off his head.

His skin dusted and his bones fell to the ground, much like the Master had so long ago. I dropped the scythe to the ground, walked over and grabbed a few large stones from the rubble. I dropped them on Dracula's bones, one stone at a time, smashing them to dusty little white fragments, pouring all my anger and grief into each throw.

After a few minutes, the Doctor stepped in and pulled me away, holding me tightly in his arms.

I leaned my head into his shoulder and sobbed loudly. He ran his fingers through my hair and kissed me on the forehead.

Just like I had done to Dawn before she sacrificed herself for this lousy world.

The Doctor sank down to the ground with me still wrapped in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." he whispered, over and over, tears rapidly falling down both of our faces.


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The Doctor and I stood on the rooftop of our now-former apartment building.

It had been two weeks since Dawn.

After the Doctor and I had left the cemetery that horrible morning, Faith and Jack had gone back, dug her body out of the rubble and we had given her a proper service.

And now it was time to go.

I had fully meant what I said about being done with the Slayer world.

So that's how we found ourselves standing on the rooftop of our former building, in front of the TARDIS, saying goodbyes to everyone.

"Willow…I don't have to tell you-" I started.

"I won't. I swear. I learned my lesson the last time. Dawn deserves to rest peacefully." she said, quietly.

I walked over and pulled Faith into a tight hug. "It's all yours now. After I leave, you are officially the head Slayer."

"Aw, B. You always know the right words to say." she joked.

I pulled out of the hug, walked into the TARDIS, grabbed something and walked back out, over to Faith.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands." I said.

"You're not going to push me off or something, right?" she asked.

I glared and she put her hands up defensively. "Alright alright. I'll play along." she said, closing her eyes and laying out her hands.

I gently set the scythe in her grip and her eyes shot open, immediately feeling the power in it.

"B…no. I can't." she protested.

"Yes, you can. You're a Slayer. This belongs to you just as much as it did to me. I've had my turn wielding it…it's your turn now."

She dropped the scythe down and pulled me into a tight hug. "Thank you."

The Doctor and I spent another few minutes saying goodbye to everyone before we closed the doors to the TARDIS.

The Doctor bounced up to the console area. "Where to, my love?" he asked, slightly chipper.

I walked up the small stair way, stood next to him and laid my head on his shoulder.

"Anywhere away from here."


End file.
